Maryland Laws on Meal and Rest Breaks

In Maryland, employees are not legally entitled to meal breaks or rest breaks.

Does your Maryland employer provide
meal or rest breaks? You might be surprised to learn that federal law doesn’t
give employees the right to time off to eat lunch (or another meal) or the
right to take short breaks during the work day. Employees must be paid for
shorter breaks they are allowed to take during the day, but employers are not
required to provide these breaks in the first place.

Many employers choose to provide
these breaks as a matter of custom and policy, perhaps recognizing that an
employee who is hungry and tired is neither productive nor pleasant to
customers and coworkers. Sensible as this seems, employers are not legally
required to allow breaks, at least by federal law.

In some states, workers have more
protections. A number of states require employers to provide meal breaks, rest
breaks or both. However, Maryland doesn’t follow this trend. Employers in Maryland
don’t have to provide either rest or meal breaks.

Federal Law: Paid versus Unpaid Breaks

Federal law requires employers to pay
employees for every hour worked, including certain time that an employer may
designate as “breaks.” For example, if an employee has to work through a meal,
that time must be paid. A receptionist who must cover the phones or wait for deliveries
during lunch must be paid for that time, as must a paralegal who eats lunch at
her desk while working or a repair person who grabs a quick bite while driving
from one job to the next. Even if an employer refers to this time as a lunch
break, the employee is still working and entitled to be paid.

Federal law also requires employers
to pay for short breaks an employee is allowed to take during the day. Breaks
lasting from five to 20 minutes are considered part of the workday, for which
employees must be paid.

Employers do not have to pay for bona
fide meal breaks, during which the employee is relieved of all duties for the
purpose of eating a meal. An employee need not be allowed to leave the work
site during a meal break, as long as the employee doesn’t have to do any work.
Ordinarily, a meal break is “bona fide” if it lasts for at least 30 minutes,
although shorter breaks may also qualify, depending on the circumstances.

These rules come into play only if an
employer allows breaks, however. Federal law requires only that an employer pay
for certain time, even if it is designated as a break. It does not require
employers to offer break time in the first place.

Maryland Law Doesn’t Require Meal or Rest Breaks

Some states require employers to
provide a meal break, rest breaks, or both. Maryland hasn’t followed suit,
however. Maryland employers must follow only the federal rules explained above.
In other words, although breaks are not required, employers must pay employees
for time they spend working and for shorter breaks during the day. An employer
that chooses to provide a longer meal break, during which the employee is
relieved of all job duties, does not have to pay the employee for that
time.